By BILL SNIER
MINERVA — It’s two cases of out with the new, in with the old, for a pair of Minerva bowlers.
Ken Lambert Jr. put up a pair of milestones after putting his new piece of equipment away and returning to his old bowling ball — with a slight modification.
Then there’s Scotty Shields, who has five 300s this season at Minerva Bowl — with three different balls, including one newer one.
They attack the lanes from different views — Lambert being a 53-year-old down-and-in right-hander and Shields, a 35-year-old righty who swings the ball more.
And their games are as different as their stories.
LAMBERT MAKES CHANGE
Lambert, who works as a laborer at Greif Inc. and bowls just one night a week, had his third career 800 series in the Consumer National Bank league at Minerva using his two-year-old Motiv Forge.
He made the change from his new Storm Absolute after starting the season with that ball.
“My nephew told me that I might like this ball, so I went and bought it. I started out averaging about 230 with it,” Lambert said. “But all of a sudden, I just couldn’t do anything with it … I just couldn’t carry. My average was down to around 207.”
So he talked with Brad Palmer at Minerva Bowl about fixing his Forge.
“I pulled that ball out and had Brad drill the thumb hole bigger,” Lambert said, adding he uses no tape in the thumb hole. “I went back to it around the first of the year, and that one month I didn’t have anything under 740 with it.”
That night, Lambert started with his 11th career 300. But it didn’t come without drama.
“I got away with one in the 11th (frame),” said Lambert, who also shot 300 the week before in Game 3 of the same league. “I came in heavy and actually tripped the 2-pin forward.”
He followed the 300 with 243 in Game 2, converting a 3-6-7 split in the second frame, and finished with 265, leaving a 4-pin spare on his first ball in the 10th, for an 808 series. His all-time high is 813.
He also brought out another old Motiv ball, a Trident, and shot 2,070 in all-events during the state Eagles tournament. “I just missed a pair of 300s that day,” he added.
And what about the Absolute?
“I sold it to a guy in the league (Brock Powell),” said Lambert, whose average has climbed to 219 with his old equipment. “I’m just going back and forth with the old balls now.”
He admitted there were some nerves after his first strike in the 10th during the 300.
“You know everyone is watching because it’s a small center and you feel the tension and stuff,” Lambert said. “But I did the math and knew I needed the strike in the ninth frame of the third game to get to 800. When I got the spare, I was OK with that.”
RUN OF 300S FOR SHIELDS
The most 300s Shields had in one season was three. Until the 2023-24 season.
The Abrasive Supply employee had two 300s with his old Hammer Claw and one with an older 900 Global Zen, plus two with his new Storm Virtual Energy Blackout. He has 28 in his career to go along with 10 800 series and a high of 857.
“I honestly have no idea why,” Shields said. “With the Zen, I just got it from Brock Powell and I put six pieces of tape in the thumb hole and changed nothing else. Then two weeks later, I went out and shot 300 with it and he wasn’t there to see it.”
Where Lambert is a down-and-in player, rolling over 10 board and out to five, Shields looks at a different line.
“I just can’t play down-and-in with the balls I use,” Shields said. “I skate through everyone’s line going 15 out to about 10 or eight. If I hit the dark board down the lane, I know it’s a good shot.”
His run of 300s has yet to produce an 800 this season. HIs closest was in the 790s — when he missed a 4-pin spare early in Game 3 to fall short.
“My average is about the same even though I feel like I’m throwing the ball better,” said Shields, who bowls in both the Consumer National Bank and Eagles Mixed League at Minerva. “But spare shooting … 10-pins .. have been killing me a little bit.”
But success has been there for both at Minerva Bowl.